Chapter 59: Missing Children

Xi Jue was driving the ox cart when they were stopped at the edge of town.

“Who are you? What are you here for?” a constable with a broadsword hanging at his waist asked gruffly.

Wang Da Shan jumped down from the cart and said carefully, with an apologetic smile, “Sir, we’re here to deliver handkerchiefs. We’re also selling some pomegranates picked from the mountain, just to earn a few coins on the side.”

The constable swept a glance over them. Behind him, there was only a woman sitting on the ox cart with a basket over her arm, and a basket of pomegranates on the cart.

“Constable, try a pomegranate. They were just picked from the mountain this morning, sweet as anything.” Seeing the constable look toward the pomegranates, Wan Niang quickly picked out a big one and offered it to him.

The constable waved his hand impatiently. “No. You’re from Anping Town? Which village?”

“Dongwang Village,” Wang Da Shan immediately answered.

Hearing that his accent was local, the constable let them pass readily.

After Wang Da Shan got back on the cart, Wan Niang whispered to him, “Looks like something big happened.”

The ox cart entered the town. The streets were still as lively as usual, with small vendors calling out here and there, but there was now a group of constables patrolling back and forth.

Wang Da Shan pointed out the way to the embroidery shop. Xi Jue drove the ox cart around a bend and stopped in front of the shop.

Wan Niang got down with her basket, went inside, and took out the handkerchiefs to give to the shop assistant.

While the assistant was checking the handkerchiefs, she asked around. “What happened in town? Why are there so many officers now? They’re even checking people before letting them into town?”

“It’s something serious,” the assistant said. “Three children went missing in town. After it was reported to the county magistrate and they investigated, they found that more than a dozen children from the nearby villages have gone missing over the past few days too.”

Xi Jue frowned and looked at the assistant. He knew who had stolen the children.

“Oh my! That really is serious.” Wan Niang furrowed her brow. “I came to town yesterday and didn’t hear anything about missing children. How did so many children disappear overnight?”

“It wasn’t overnight,” the assistant said with a sigh after the patrolling constables outside the door had passed by. “I heard some have been missing for three or four days. Their families thought they fell into the river while bathing and spent the last two days searching the river. One child in town only went missing yesterday. I heard the child had gone to visit relatives on his own and didn’t come back at night. Several families searched all night and didn’t see a trace of him. They only reported it to the county yamen this morning. Once they investigated, well, that was when it turned into a huge matter.”

“If a child goes missing, the family’s hearts must break,” Wan Niang said sympathetically.

“I know who it is,” Xi Jue, who was standing by the door, suddenly said.

The other three people in the room all looked at Xi Jue in shock.

“How do you know who it is?” Wan Niang asked curiously.

Xi Jue said slowly, “Yesterday, I saw the ‘mad woman’ trying to grab a little girl. It was when we were buying thread.”

“I remember. You shouted at the time and gave that old woman selling thread a fright.” Only then did Wan Niang understand. “So that shout of yours was telling the mad woman to go away?”

“No wonder Huaniang told Xiu Niang to keep a close eye on Chun Hua the moment she first saw the mad woman. So you all had seen that something was wrong with that woman.” Wan Niang suddenly realized.

“Then hurry and report it to the authorities,” the assistant said. He quickly came out from behind the counter, pulled Xi Jue toward the door, and craned his neck to call to the constables who had just passed by. “Officers! Officers! We know who stole the children!”

“Who was it?” The constable in front had just turned around when the shop owner across the street had already asked the question.

“The mad woman. Someone here saw her trying to grab a little girl yesterday,” the assistant said, pointing at Xi Jue.

The assistant analyzed, “The mad woman only came here from out of town a few days ago, and haven’t the children gone missing over the past few days? Besides, she grabs children and says they’re her babies. Maybe she can trick little kids.”

The constables ran over to the embroidery shop just in time to hear the shop owner across the street say, “Aiya, I didn’t see the mad woman wandering around town today. Don’t tell me she ran away?”

“Go, go, go. Ask around! Search! We must find that mad woman!” the lead constable ordered, and everyone scattered to ask from house to house about the mad woman’s whereabouts.

After the constables left, Xi Jue’s furrowed brow still did not relax. He could smell that the woman was no longer in town.

In a ruined temple twenty li from the town, the former mad woman had now washed and tidied herself. She had changed into a blue-green outfit, and a silver plum-blossom hairpin was tucked into the bun coiled on her head. Not a trace of her former madness could be seen.

She reached out and counted the children tied up on the ground one by one. “Fifteen. Seven boys and eight girls. We’re still short one boy.”

The man with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks got up from a tattered mat and spat out the grass stem in his mouth. “How are we still short? Did you count wrong? Count again!”

The mad woman rolled her eyes and sat down on a broken stool nearby. “Count them yourself if you want. Fifteen is fifteen. How could there be any mistake?”

The man cursed and counted them once. Sure enough, there were fifteen. Just then, the boy by his feet happened to be struggling. Without the slightest politeness, he kicked him and cursed, “What are you moving for? Want to die sooner? Tomorrow I’ll send you off to be reborn!”

The boy who had been kicked curled up and squeezed into the pile of children.

The man said to the woman, “Bad luck. How are we short one? Are you going later, or am I?”

“Ma Daming, you go if you want to go. I’m not going!” the woman immediately refused. “I got ten of them. You only brought in five. I’m tired. I need to rest.”

“Rest, my ass. It’s not like you’re some rich family’s madam. You don’t have a rich person’s fate, but you sure have a rich person’s sickness!” After the man finished cursing, he walked out of the ruined temple and squatted under the shade of the tree by the entrance.

Half an hour later, a short man with skin as dark as charcoal ran over in a panic and said urgently, “Big Brother, Big Brother, bad news! Bad news! The constables in town are looking everywhere for Sister-in-law now.”

Hearing the voice, the mad woman quickly ran out of the ruined temple. “Hei Pi, has Liu Wu’s cart arrived?”

“Not yet. I couldn’t find Liu Wu in town.” Hei Pi said anxiously, “Big Brother, what do we do? I heard someone told the county magistrate they’d seen Sister-in-law grabbing children.”

Ma Daming turned his face and blamed her. “How were you so careless? You even let someone see you.”

“I know who you’re talking about now.” The mad woman’s eyes were full of vicious hatred. “It must be that family. Their household has four or five boys.”

Ma Daming said, “We can’t stay here. Who knows when they’ll search their way over? We’re leaving.”

“Where to?” Hei Pi and the mad woman asked in unison.

“Fifteen children. Where can we take them?” the mad woman asked. “There are people everywhere. Nowhere will work.”

Ma Daming’s expression darkened. He turned and glanced into the ruined temple, then said ruthlessly, “Leave the children here and we’ll go! Gag their mouths properly and tie them up tight.”

The mad woman said unwillingly, “We’re just leaving like this? We agreed this batch of goods was worth thirty taels of silver. The silver was already almost in our hands, and now it’s just going to fly away?”

“Then what do you say we do?” Ma Daming spread his hands helplessly. “Liu Wu still hasn’t come. How are we supposed to move so many children out?”

“In my opinion, we should hide in the mountains for now. These children won’t starve to death if we leave them here for two or three days,” Hei Pi suggested.

The three of them really had no other choice. They gagged the children’s mouths one by one, bound them tightly, took their luggage, and hurried toward the mountain.

After they finished selling the pomegranates, Wang Da Shan still wanted to stay behind and watch the excitement, but Xi Jue said, “The person isn’t in town anymore.”

“Brother Xi Jue, how do you know that?” Wang Da Shan asked.

Xi Jue paused, then made something up. “They’ve been searching for so long. If they still can’t find her, then she definitely isn’t in town. Let’s go back.”

Wan Niang agreed. “I think Xi Jue is right. An outsider would definitely be easy to find. If they haven’t found her after so long, she must have run off! Da Shan, let’s hurry home. The moment I think of Da Mao and Er Mao, I get scared. Let’s go back and keep a good eye on the two children.”

“Go, go. Let’s go back.” At the mention of his own children, Wang Da Shan grew anxious. They really did have to go home and watch Da Mao and Er Mao. Those two boys ran all over the village all day long, and they could disappear for half a day without anyone seeing a trace of them.

After returning to Dongwang Village, Wan Niang counted out two hundred and ten wen and handed it to Xi Jue. “Sixty wen is Xiu Niang’s. She embroidered three handkerchiefs. The other one hundred and fifty wen is for your family’s Xiao Cong. That child Xiao Cong is very capable. I didn’t expect him to embroider five handkerchiefs in three days.”

She and Wang Da Shan got off the ox cart early. They did not go toward Xiu Niang’s house, instead going straight home to watch Da Mao and Er Mao.

Xi Jue tucked away the money and drove the ox cart back at an easy pace. First, he gave the sixty wen to Xiu Niang. Then Xi Jue handed the remaining one hundred and fifty wen straight to Hua Qi.

Xiao Cong’s eyes fixed on the money as he smiled with his lips pressed together. He had earned money today!

When he turned his head and looked at Yun Shan in the cradle, Yun Shan was sleeping with his eyes closed. His little mouth was puckered, his chubby face turned to the side and slightly puffed up, his mouth a little open, and his two small hands clenched into fists and raised on either side of his head.

Xiao Cong gently touched Yun Shan’s little fist. In his heart, he made up his mind that in the future, he would definitely embroider more things and sell them for money to buy cloth and make clothes for the Little Temple Master.

“Xiao Cong is earning money for us too.” Hua Qi happily accepted the money, then glanced at Tuo Tuo beside him and said without the slightest attempt to hide it, “Doesn’t that mean there’s still someone who eats for free all day?”

Tuo Tuo was already jealous that Xiao Cong had earned money. Hearing Hua Qi say that, he immediately got up from the small stool, rushed out of the yard, and ran to the open space behind the house, shouting, “Uncle Qiu Sheng, come back and make the loom! I want to weave cloth and earn money!”

Hearing Tuo Tuo’s shout, the corners of Hua Qi’s mouth lifted slightly. The little ginseng spirit needed a bit of prodding. Otherwise, he would really think coming down the mountain was a sightseeing trip.

Qiu Sheng, who was climbing on the frame and building the wall, turned back and laughed. “The timber hasn’t arrived yet. Go look for your dad first.”

Tuo Tuo turned and ran back into the yard. “Xi Jue, Dou Ming, Uncle Qiu Sheng says we’re still short on timber.”

Dou Ming said, “I’ll go up the mountain tomorrow morning and drag it back.”

“Tomorrow morning won’t do. Go right now,” Tuo Tuo said anxiously. “Once you drag the timber down, Uncle Qiu Sheng can make the loom.”

“I don’t want to go,” Dou Ming said lazily. “If you want it dragged down, go yourself!”

“I’ll go, then!” Tuo Tuo turned to run out of the yard, but Xiu Niang, who was beside him, grabbed his arm and stopped him. “Where are you going? It’s almost dark. Don’t run up the mountain. I’ll make little steamed buns for you tonight.”

Looking at the bruises on Tuo Tuo’s arm, she touched them with distress. “Does your arm still hurt, Tuo Tuo?”

“It doesn’t hurt anymore.” Tuo Tuo shook his big chubby face. He had not taken it seriously at all.

“Children went missing in town today, and everyone’s searching for them.” Seeing the bruises on Tuo Tuo’s arm, Xi Jue thought again of the mad woman, so he told them what had happened in town that day.

“How many children went missing? Have they been found?” Xiu Niang asked with concern.

Xi Jue replied, “I heard from the assistant at the embroidery shop that more than a dozen children went missing. They haven’t been found yet.”

“Children have never gone missing around here before. How did so many disappear all of a sudden? Could it be that a demon on the mountain cultivated into a spirit, came down the mountain, and ate the children?”

Before Xiu Niang could finish speaking, she saw Xi Jue’s whole family in the yard turn and stare at her in unison. Their stares made Xiu Niang start stammering. “W-what is it? Don’t demons eat people? Didn’t you all flee because there were demons eating people in Li City?”

“Who said all demons eat people?” Hua Qi said faintly. “It’s not as if every demon eats people.”

“Huh?” Xiu Niang was dumbfounded. “There are demons that don’t eat people?”

Tuo Tuo pouted and said, “The ones who eat people are bad demons. Good demons don’t eat people.” They would never take the initiative to hit humans. The demons in Yunling Mountain were all well-behaved good demons!

To prove his own innocence, Xi Jue immediately said, “It was the mad woman who stole the children. Not a demon. The constables in town are all looking for her.”

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